From IBC to Ethereum: Interconnecting Blockchains

The Web3 industry has faced unprecedented hurdles since the advent of Bitcoin over a decade ago, including issues with scalability and systems lacking interoperability. Protocols such as Union facilitate large-scale interaction by allowing groups to establish connections, conduct transactions, exchange assets, and carry out various other activities while maintaining control.

Cosmos, a notable player in the interoperability area, has developed the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol, which has linked 91 zones via IBC, facilitating over $2.1 billion worth of transactions in the past 30 days across more than 8.7 million exchanges.

Composable Finance, Consensys, Tokensoft, and Polygon Labs created and backed Union. It is a trustless bridging protocol that connects modular blockchains and rollups without the need for trusted third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or MPC. It accomplishes this by utilizing advanced zero-knowledge cryptography.

In a recent partnership, Union and Polygon Labs—the brains behind L2—will leverage Polygon’s AggLayer to connect the two largest blockchain networks, Cosmos and Polygon, and to expedite the transfer of assets and messages throughout the Polygon ecosystem and IBC-enabled chains.

Karel Kubat, the founder of Union and the former chief technology officer at Composable Finance, explained how Union connects any IBC-enabled blockchain platform to its aggregation layer. This includes platforms like Arbitrum, Scroll, Berrachain, Movement Labs, and M2. It provides decentralized access to Ethereum’s extensive liquidity pool, one of the largest Layer 1 blockchain networks.

Currently, numerous Layer 1 ecosystems rely exclusively on centralized bridges that require permission, or on semi-centralized solutions, to connect with smaller networks. Prior to this change, individuals seeking support for a new rollup or chain based in Cosmos were required to contact the bridge operator directly.

Union eliminates the need for dependency by enabling any IBC-supported project to easily connect to Ethereum and gain access to a wide-ranging interchain financial system. As a result, the global environment is rapidly transforming from a few hundred isolated networks to a blockchain economy of internet-scale scope, comprising thousands of dynamic communities that are interconnected.

Partially decentralized remedies are not feasible with Union because waiting periods are too lengthy, and every chain wanting to connect must request approval from the bridging protocol. A future with millions of networks seamlessly interconnected is now possible with Union, which allows chains to easily begin channels with Ethereum.

The potential market for Union is extensive, given its capability to improve any pre-existing Ethereum and Solana applications that may derive advantages from this transition. This facilitates straightforward interoperability among distinct blockchains, thereby enabling a development process that is both more streamlined and fortified.

Source